Sony just confirmed the title for Spidey’s MCU debut as SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (cheeky), and then yesterday, Birth.Movies.Death. reported that The Vulture would be appearing the film in some capacity.
So when Variety goes and says that Michael Keaton is in talks to play “a villain” in Jon Watts’ reboot, you gotta assume he might be playing Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture.
They’re being coy as to who Keaton would play, and Faraci’s report yesterday left it open whether The Vulture would be the main villain or something as minor as The Rhino cameo in ASM 2, but Keaton wouldn’t be a bad choice for the character. I mean, aside from the wings that he wore in that one movie that one time (see above). He’s clearly down to go villainous (“Nice fuckin’ model!!”), and all this recent awards attention frees him up to get both more heavy and more ridiculous than he’s been allowed to be in his last few films (since maybe THE OTHER GUYS). I mean, with his hair (or lack thereof) these days, it's not a stretch to see him as a bald, flying supergenius, is it?
They were talking about getting John Malkovich or Ben Kingsley as the Vulture when they planned on doing a SPIDER-MAN 4 with Raimi still at the helm, and as much as I love the idea of those actors following the footsteps of Dafoe and Molina in that universe, I very much prefer the idea of Keaton finally graduating to comic-book villain. He went from being the BATMAN that no one wanted, to being the BATMAN that everyone wanted, to trying to make you forget that he was BATMAN, to making fun of how everyone only saw him as a BATMAN-type character, and now all the way to Jack's old spot as the old guy barking threatening things to the hero in a mean voice. Keaton’s had a truly remarkable resurgence in the past half-decade or so, brushing against Academy love the last two years in a row, and playing the heavy in what’s likely to be one of the bigger tentpoles of next year will grant him as much international, four-quadrant exposure as he’s gotten since he put down the cape and cowl a quarter-century ago. And he’s always, always great to watch.
But we musn’t forget that it could be another role Keaton’s up for. Which Spidey villain would you want to see him play? Mysterio? Kraven? Carnage??
Also, I know no one’s bringing this up, but is there any way we can get a fucking Kingpin vs. Spidey match-up already now that they’re under the same roof? Can we see D’Onofrio’s growling take on Fisk throwing costumed heroes on the big screen please?
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING asks you to dance on July 7th, 2017.
